iPhone is not the safest of the devices but certainly one of the most used devices. In the modern era smartphones are also used as a mobile data backup. As these phone can perform almost like a computer, many of the important folders are saved in iPhone. As research suggest iPhone is one of the basic sources of data loss. How can that data can be secured? Any suggestions?

Well, it's a remote backup, which is handy. Safe? What does that really mean? It's probably pretty secure ... possibly more secure than your own home computer. And it's not likely that anyone will snoop on your data in the cloud ... well, apart from a few thousand of your good friends at the NSA, of course ...

Well, it's a remote backup, which is handy. Safe? What does that really mean? It's probably pretty secure ... possibly more secure than your own home computer. And it's not likely that anyone will snoop on your data in the cloud ... well, apart from a few thousand of your good friends at the NSA, of course ...

Then why did you ask the question? Nothing in this digital world is completely secure, so it's really a question of how secure or insecure any particular option is. Storing stuff on your own computer is very insecure. For example, if you are online and have a wireless connection, it's pretty easy for someone out in the street to gain access to your computer and everything on it. I suspect that reputable cloud storage is more secure than that. So it comes down to how secure you realistically need something to be. IMHO, some information just shouldn't be kept on web-connected computers at all. (I don't understand why many essential services have all their data and systems linked to the web, which makes then vulnerable to being compromised—for no advantage that I can see.)

My motive of asking was to know about some software that can upload encrypted files on the cloud.

I was under the impression that many of the cloud storage services provide software for your computer that encrypts the data before it's uploaded. I'm thinking os services like SugarSync and Backblaze. There are lots of them, and I would presume they have this encryption baked in.

I was under the impression that many of the cloud storage services provide software for your computer that encrypts the data before it's uploaded. I'm thinking os services like SugarSync and Backblaze. There are lots of them, and I would presume they have this encryption baked in.

I cannot rely on any software other than the encryption facility of the cloud themselves?

I suppose you could encrypt your data with another program first, and then upload to a storage service. Not sure, though. If you are gpoing to encrypt it yourself, you could even just upload it to your own hosting space and maybe save some $$. Or upload it to DropBox etc.

iPhones actually have very, very good native encryption -- each unit ships with it's own hardware key that never leaves the unit, they are pretty much unbreakable when combined with reasonable passcode.

If you want to just encrypt a folder at rest just use truecrypt, no need to bother with commercial products. If you are on professional or better SKUS of windows bitlocker is another great option and has loads less overhead in most cases.

Also, I'd mentioned a recent pair of TechRepublic.com articles on attacking (encrypted) DropBox files. I don't have their links but have my saved copies of their articles (attached - I hope this attribution is sufficient not to violate their copyright). In summary, though, do NOT rely on cloud's encryption but encrypt before uploading (if that's how you want to save your files).

Thanks, Wyatt, good information about the iPhone. Do you know if Androids do the same? Any recommended app?

Yes, thanks for those. I had already saved them, but perhaps not taken them sufficiently to heart. I should keep my nose out of these discussions, as I'm hopelessly ignroant about this stuff. I just hope that other storage solutions like SugarSync and Backblaze know what they are doing in terms of security.

iPhones actually have very, very good native encryption -- each unit ships with it's own hardware key that never leaves the unit, they are pretty much unbreakable when combined with reasonable passcode.

If you want to just encrypt a folder at rest just use truecrypt, no need to bother with commercial products. If you are on professional or better SKUS of windows bitlocker is another great option and has loads less overhead in most cases.

@dklynn -- unfortunately androids are a bit wild west. Current versions do support whole device encryption but the hardware support definitely isn't universal, having dedicated crypto silicon matters alot on mobile where the battery overhead is vastly more important. Also why attach PDFs of articles rather than link to the article?

@dklynn -- unfortunately androids are a bit wild west. Current versions do support whole device encryption but the hardware support definitely isn't universal, having dedicated crypto silicon matters alot on mobile where the battery overhead is vastly more important. Also why attach PDFs of articles rather than link to the article?